Catherine Woulfe

Books editor

Catherine Woulfe is the editor of The Spinoff Books and 1972 Magazine. She is an award-winning news and features journalist, and longtime books obsessive. She welcomes pitches of essays or reviews at catherinewoulfe@thespinoff.co.nz

Society
Mar 25, 2020

My dad, locked down

All I can do, now, is wrap him up in love and trust that the people who are looking after him are wrapping him up in love, too.

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Books
Mar 4, 2020

The Ockham finalists just got announced, and two very hot books are missing

Ladies and gentlemen we have a horse race. Books editor Catherine Woulfe offers up some odds.

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Books
Feb 29, 2020

The teacher stories

I had planned to write an unabashed rave review, and then another book landed in my letterbox – and I just couldn't read those stories in isolation from my own experience.

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Books
Jan 30, 2020

Breaking news: the Ockhams 2020 finalists, a chorus of triumph and travesty

Here are the 40 books that made it, followed by some frank thoughts from our books editor.

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Books
Jan 5, 2020

Three Women: The astonishing study of female desire that has everyone talking

Three Women is a fervent, scrupulous qualitative review of female desire. It’s also a lesson in commitment – and the powerful act of paying attention.

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Books
Dec 17, 2019

Decade in review: 10 defining New Zealand books of the 2010s

The loss of innocence, the revitalisation of te reo, the rising up of women and of LGBTQ rights – the decade has been a ride. Here are our pick of …

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Books
Dec 10, 2019

The 10 best New Zealand children’s books of 2019

Arriving in bookstores now, New Zealand Nature Heroes is optimistic and surprising and all kinds of wonderful.

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Books
Dec 3, 2019

Review: A Madness of Sunshine made me really, really mad

Books editor Catherine Woulfe on the much-anticipated first thriller by New Zealander and New York Times bestseller, Nalini Singh. 

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Books
Nov 25, 2019

An interview with the legend who covered white supremacist posters in poetry

'I could’ve drawn a big penis on it, you know, but that’s really unoriginal.'

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Books
Nov 16, 2019

Welcome to the jungle: The Burning River, reviewed

Books editor Catherine Woulfe follows Wellington author Lawrence Patchett into his extraordinary story of heat and water and history repeating. 

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Hello Fresh
Nov 14, 2019

When having two kids is infinitely easier than one

Catherine Woulfe welcomes the daughter she fought for.

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Books
Oct 14, 2019

A books editor confesses: I haven’t read the Booker shortlist. Any of them

On the eve of the announcement of the winner of the 2019 Booker prize, books editor Catherine Woulfe outs herself as a giant know-nothing. 

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Business
Oct 1, 2019

Bravely going where no nappy company has gone before

They might be on the pricier side but books editor Catherine Woulfe is feeling much better using startup Little & Brave's compostable nappies to deal with her daughter's epic poos.

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Books
Sep 9, 2019

Women, pain and anti-vaxxers: Why medicine is due for a feminist reckoning

Gabrielle Jackson is a Sydney-based Guardian journalist who has written a book about her pain, and the pain of women, and the ways in which the medical system is making it worse.

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Books
Sep 3, 2019

Linda Burgess, this is your life: her new essay collection, reviewed

Loved Linda Burgess's essays for The Spinoff? Now she's written a whole book of 'em. And it is, predictably, terrific.

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Books
Aug 7, 2019

The Children’s Book of the Year is an absolute joy

Announcing the winners of the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young People. 

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Books
Aug 3, 2019

The Unity children’s bestseller chart for the month of July

What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart.

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Books
Jul 11, 2019

Very cool art activities for very bored kids

We've scored four ART-TASTIC spreads guaranteed to keep the kids occupied these holidays, just download and print them out!

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Books
Jul 8, 2019

Three Women: The astonishing study of female desire that has everyone talking

Three Women is a fervent, scrupulous qualitative review of female desire. It’s also a lesson in commitment – and the powerful act of paying attention.

Read on.

Books
Jul 1, 2019

Rejoice! The best book in the world is being republished today

New Zealand writer Sherryl Jordan's elated, transcendent novel for young adults, Winter of Fire, was first released in 1992. A quarter-century later fans' pestering has paid off and it's back in bookstores. This makes Catherine Woulfe very happy. 

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Books
Jun 6, 2019

Please, no more poos: the best children’s picture books of 2019

Let us rejoice in the line-up for best picture book at the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

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Books
May 10, 2019

Please welcome… the Unity Books CHILDREN’S bestseller chart!!

Unity and The Spinoff are very proud to announce the arrival of this new monthly feature. Because we love kids, and we love books, and we’re really sick of buying shitty books by mistake and having to read them 87,000 bedtimes in a row.

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Books
May 8, 2019

We have 16 seriously covetable NZ books for you, thanks to the Ockham Awards

All of the books shortlisted for the country’s shiniest literary gongs at this year’s Auckland Writers Festival are boxed up in some publicist’s back room, just waiting to be shipped to YOU!!

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Barkers 1972
Apr 22, 2019

Yes, I’ve read it. Yes, I’m afraid. Now tell us what to do, dude

David Wallace-Wells has written a blinder, a book that could actually prompt people to push through complacency. But it’s not enough to pump us up full of fear and then just leave us there

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Barkers 1972
Feb 3, 2019

The Irishman who stuffed New Zealand’s birds

Catherine Woulfe goes searching for the legacy of one of New Zealand’s first taxidermists.

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Barkers 1972
Jan 27, 2019

Sharp objects: A lesson in the fine art of knife-making

Catherine Woulfe spends a day at the Auckland Blade Show, a celebration of knives of all kinds.

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